A new streaming service, Star+, will be offered through Disney+ internationally, according to Deadline. The streaming service will be available in Singapore, Australia, Europe, Canada and New Zealand. It will launch as a tile included with Disney+ on February 23, 2021, and Latin America will be granted access in June of 2021. Since this new extension will also include more content Disney will increase its subscription internationally to €8.99. This was announced at the 2020 Disney Investor Day Presentation by Rebecca Campbell, Disney’s Chairmen of International Operations and Direct-to-Consumer.
Campbell released a statement concerning what sort of content subscribers can expect from the new streaming platform. “It will add a robust collection of our best original general entertainment films and series,” according to Deadline. While having a collection of family friendly content, Star will also feature more mature themed narratives. As Disney has acquired FX after purchasing FOX, it now has widened its array to several original series that are filmed for a more mature audience.
Star isn’t Disney’s first time releasing a new streaming service in an international market. Back in April, India was granted access to Disney+ Hotstar, which was originally owned by Star India until Disney’s acquisition of Fox.
Disney’s CEO Bob Chepek had shed some light on the new Star streaming service as well, “In terms of the general entertainment offering internationally, we want to mirror our successful Disney Plus strategy by using our Disney Plus technical platform, bringing in content we already own and distributing it under a successful international brand that we also already own, which is, of course, Star,” according to Deadline.
Currently, there is no United States release date for Star offered by Disney.